


Is this more than you bargained for?

by highladyofgothamcity



Series: Is this more than you bargained for [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: He gets turned, Lies, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mundane Magnus Bane, Shadowhunter Alec Lightwood, Werewolf Magnus Bane, he didn't know Alec is a Shadowhunter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-09 22:52:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18926605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highladyofgothamcity/pseuds/highladyofgothamcity
Summary: Magnus Bane is a completely normal person. 25 years old, with his own small apartment, a cat, and a good job as personal assistant to the owner of one of the biggest boutiques in New York. He has no living family, but does have several friends (mostly from work) and a great boyfriend.A boyfriend who was probably a part of the mob.





	Is this more than you bargained for?

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be funny and light hearted but got a bit angsty whoops.

Magnus Bane is a completely normal person. 25 years old, with his own small apartment, a cat, and a good job as personal assistant to the owner of one of the biggest boutiques in New York. He has no living family, but does have several friends (mostly from work) and a great boyfriend.

 

A boyfriend who was probably a part of the mob.

 

Not that Alec had ever told him Magnus he was in the mob, a part of the mob. Whatever the property terminology is.

 

When asked, Alec claimed he was  _ in private security.  _ It was apparently a family business, and they all had matching tattoos, at least the ones Magnus had met. He'd only met Izzy and Jace twice in the five months he and Alec had been dating, but they also screamed  _ we're hiding things. _

 

If the weird vague job, matching tattoos, and the fact that Magnus had never been invited to Alec's place weren't enough of a sign that the Lightwoods were involved in some shady business, there was also Alec's phone. Or rather the calls he got on it.

 

Magnus couldn't count the number if times they'd been in the middle of a date, or making out on his couch, or on one memorable occasion, in the shower together, that the goddamn cell phone had rung and Alec had dropped everything to answer it. Sometimes he'd talk for a few minutes before hanging up and announcing the he had to go. Sometimes he just left the room for long periods of time to talk to whoever had called. 

 

It was infuriating.

 

But the worst thing was the fact that Alec  _ never told him the truth.  _ They'd been officially together nearly six months, had met at a coffee shop a little before that, and Magnus had figured out the truth about his boyfriend's job somewhere around the one month mark. He'd kept quiet, waiting for Alec to break the news himself. He never had.

 

Not after their first time (Alec's first time ever), not after the first time they'd said _ I love you, _ not after the time he'd had the Lightwoods over for dinner and Magnus had overheard Jace saying, “this isn't exactly the kind of thing you can keep from him. He'll understand, just  _ tell him.” _

 

So yes, Magnus Bane is a perfectly normal person. Except for his mobster boyfriend, who won't admit he's in the mob.

 

÷÷÷

 

_ The bushes rustle, he turns, a shadow moves in the corner of his vision. Pain explodes in his side.  _

 

_ A woman stands over him, yelling at someone to call 911. They load him onto the stretcher. Sirens and flashing lights are the last thing he sees before everything goes black.  _

÷ _ ÷÷ _

 

The nurse is adjusting something on the monitors when he wakes up. It's not a sudden waking, but a slow one, like swimming through pudding. He's definitely on drugs. 

 

“Wher’ an I? Wha happen’?” Magnus croaks out, trying to sit up. The nurse stops him.

 

“You're in the hospital. You lost a lot of blood, you should take it easy. I'm surprised you're awake already.” 

 

He looks down. Under the  _ vile  _ green hospital gown he's somehow been forced into, his right arm and side are wrapped in clean white bandages.

 

The nurse introduces herself as Catarina Loss and gives him a cup of water, to Magnus’ eternal gratitude. 

 

She explains that he'd been found by a late night jogger last night. He'd been walking through the park on the way to his apartment from a bar he'd met Alec at, a shortcut he'd been taking for years.

 

“Never had a wild animal attack me there before. And it's not even the full moon.” he jokes, though Catarina doesn't look amused, just rolls her eyes, mutters something under her breath, and tells him there's a police officer waiting to take his statement whenever he's ready, much to Magnus’ confusion.

 

“What are you going to do, arrested the escaped tiger that mauled me?” Magnus asks the officer, who's technically a detective, Luke Garroway.

 

Luke smiles. “Not exactly. All I need is a brief summary of what happened and I'll be on my way.”

 

Magnus tells him what he can remember which isn't much.

 

A couple hours later he's released with a bottle of pain meds, strict instructions to not do anything too taxing and to change the bandages regularly, and a mountain of bills that are going to cut into his take out budget for a while. Also, a cryptic order from Nurse Loss. 

 

“If you see anything weird or strange, or  _ anyone,  _ call me immediately.”

 

“What like hallucinations from the drugs?” She hadn't answered, just shooed him out the door. He hadn't thought twice about it.

 

As he walks to the metro, he replies to the many texts from coworkers and his boss, explaining that he'd been in the hospital. But he hesitates before telling Alec. Because Alec's overprotective, and freaked out when Magnus had cut his hand on some glass, insisting on cleaning and bandaging the small slash himself.

 

So telling his boyfriend he had been in the hospital would end with Alec at his front door, unwilling to leave until Magnus was fully healed. 

 

_ Not that I'd mind him moving in,  _ Magnus muses, grabbing the railing as the train begins to move.  _ I wonder if he'd say yes if I asked him. Maybe then he'd realize I'm here to stay, and tell me the truth. _

 

All thoughts of Alec and moving in together are knocked from his head forcefully as he looks up for the first time from his phone. 

 

They're is a woman standing next to him, looking like she's on the way to a LotR cosplay meet up. Dressed in full armor, with pointy ears, holding a very real looking spear. She's got a leaf tattoo on her cheek. 

 

Not the weirdest thing he's seen in New York. No one gives her a second look. Or the man with bright red skin, who's sitting a few yards from Magnus, eyes glued to his phone. 

 

Perfectly normal, just like the woman at the end of the car with green snakes growing in place of hair, holding a crying baby with horns protruding from it's head. 

 

The other passengers glance back at the crying, mildly annoyed. Not freaked out, as if they couldn't see the snakes hissing at the child, making it laugh and stop bawling. 

 

Well shit. 

 

Magnus is first off the train at his stop, practically sprinting to his apartment. He's not fast enough to miss all the  _ wrong  _ things on the way there. Two women with green shimmery wings make out in front of a movie theater. A man with goat legs argues with another man, who has a dog half his size on a leash. The giant black beast turns to look at Magnus, revealing glowing red eyes. 

 

It takes him several tries to unlock his front door, his hands are shaking so bad. Once in, he locks and bolts the door before collapsing to the ground, ignoring the protest from his bandaged arm and side. 

 

“I'm hallucinating. The drugs are just making me see things, that's all. It'll wear off.” He tells himself. “it's fine.  _ It's fine. _ ”

 

In his pocket, his phone buzzes, but his hands are shaking too badly to be able to grab it. 

 

After who knows how long, he manages to get himself off the floor and into his room, collapsing on the bed and passing out.

 

He doesn't wake up until five am the next morning. And only then because his cat is meowing loudly for food. Poor thing is starving.

 

By the time he's showered, brushed his teeth, got dressed, and eaten breakfast, Magnus is convinced everything he'd seen had been a dream or something. He calls his boss and tells her he'll be coming in today.

 

He'd plugged his dead phone in after waking, and it's now at the point where he can check his inbox. There's several texts from Alec and a voice mail.

 

“Hey Magnus. Uh, I know we're supposed to have dinner tomorrow night, but I’m gonna have to cancel it. A sudden business meeting came up. You know the drill, no cell service. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you when I get back in six days. Um, Wednesday. Yeah. Sorry again. Love you.”

 

Alec's job requires him to randomly go on “business trips” every couple of weeks. There's never any cell signal and Magnus is always miserable. He's never been told  _ where _ Alec goes, and never asks. It's mob stuff, and Magnus doesn't really want to be involved in it.

 

Before leaving Magnus undoes the bandages, which are waterproof and had been kept on in the shower, and is surprised by how good they look. The one on his arm turns out to be a bite, but the wounds on his side are definitely from animal claws.

 

The thing is, they look like they happened a week ago, not a little over a day. 

 

“Weird,” he mutters, then looks at the clock and realizes that he missed his train and will have to take a cab. “Damn it!”

 

His job as personal assistant to the owner of a boutique means he mostly sits at his desk outside her office and answers phone calls, emails important people for her, manages her schedule, and occasionally sits meetings with her, taking notes and when necessary, brings coffee.

 

Everything is fine, and he's almost forgotten about everything that happened yesterday night. Up until lunch time, when they go out to lunch with a well off client. 

 

The three of them are seated in a table towards the back and told a server will be with them shortly. 

 

He looks up from the appetizers menu to request a glass of sweet tea and nearly screams. Because their waiter has yellow snake eyes and scales on her neck to match. 

 

Instead, Magnus calmly places his order, then excuses himself to the restroom to freak out.

 

That's not the last time it happens. There's people and things everywhere that are just  _ not human _ or explainable through science. Things he's never seen before. Magnus stops taking the pain meds, but it doesn't help. 

 

He makes it until Tuesday, four days, before breaking and going to the hospital, asking for the nurse who had told him to find her if he started seeing things. 

 

Catarina Loss gives him a sad look, says “I'm sorry “ then points him towards an empty exam room and tells him to wait. 

 

He's expecting her to be the one to walk in ten minutes later, but it's not. It's the detective who took his testimony before, Luke Garroway.

 

“Magnus, I'd like to say it's good to see you again, but I'd have preferred never to meet again.”

 

“Are you going to arrest me?” Magnus blurts. “Is it because I'm going insane? Please don't lock me up! I swear I'm not a threat to society!”

 

Luke raises an eyebrow. “I'm not going to arrest you, you haven't done anything wrong. In fact, I'm going to take you out for lunch. Have you eaten yet?”

 

Puzzled by this turn of events, Magnus just shakes his head no.

 

“Good. Follow me.”

 

÷÷÷

 

Luke's cop car is parked near the entrance to the hospital. They hurry to it, because it's started to rain. He can hear thunder very far away. 

 

“So, Magnus. Tell me more about what's been happening to you these past few days. Cat said you're pretty freaked out.”

 

Hesitantly, he tells Luke about all the strange things he's been able to see since getting out if the hospital. “At first I thought it was the meds, but I stopped taking them and it didn't help. Um, if you don't mind me asking, why do the police care? I wouldn't think one person seeing things is really your job.”

 

Luke taps his finger on the steering wheel. “I'm not here on official business Magnus. I have a... personal interest in you. I promise, I'm here to help you best I can. But to do that I need you to be completely truthful with me “

 

“Ok”

 

“Have you noticed anything else different since the attack? Anything at all?”

 

“Well…” Magnus runs his hands through his hair, headless of how the carefully styled mohawk is being messed up. “There is a few other things. Um, my wounds. Another reason I stopped taking the pain meds was because I didn't need them. The bite on my arm is practically gone already. And the only remains of the scratch is a large scar on my ribs.  

 

“And the other day, I was drinking coffee, and for some reason got frustrated. The cup broke in my hands, just shattered.” Magnus looks down at his hands, remembering.  

 

He looks up as the car comes to a stop. They're outside a shady looking Chinese restaurant, called the Jade Wolf. Luke kills the ignition.

 

“Well I have good news, and bad news. The good news is you're not going insane, just seeing things as they are. The bad news is that the reason you can do this is because you're a werewolf now.”

 

÷÷÷

 

Looking back, Magnus would say he took the news well. He didn't scream, or burst into tears, or call Luke insane. He just quietly followed the detective into the restaurant. He was probably in shock.

 

They order and Luke explains. And while Magnus’ first instinct is to get the hell away from here, everything Luke tells him matches up.

 

The ability to see all the weird stuff for one, which Luke told him was because as a Downworlder he now had the sight. Those people had always been there apparently, just glamored. 

 

But other stuff, like the fast healing wounds, the extra strength, the weird fits of anger that Magnus had assumed were just mood swings, another byproduct of the meds. That also fit.

 

Luke is apparently a werewolf too, the Alpha if the biggest pack in New York, that operated out of this restaurant. 

 

“It used to be a police station. We use the old cells in the back for the full moon sometimes.”

 

Magnus finishes chewing his bite of general chicken. “So the full moon stuff, that's true?”

 

“For the most part. On the nights off a full moon you will have no control over the shift. And you'll be ruled by your animal instincts. Some choose to be locked up back there, especially the newer ones, afraid if what they might do. But I lead those who don't on a hunt in Central Park normally. Often we have a Warlock or more recently, a Shadowhunter tail us just in case. Not that you have to join a pack, but it's easier to have one.”

 

“Shadowhunter?” 

 

The Alpha explains the half angel children who keep demons in check, and they sound extremely stuck up and repressed. Magnus voices this opinion and Luke chuckles. 

 

“The younger ones are normally pretty cool. The new head of the New York Institute is a good guy, very dependable.”

 

As a openly queer man of color that wears makeup he's had more than enough bad run ins with law enforcement, but maybe supernatural law enforcement is better.

 

“Have you told anyone about what's been happening to you?”

 

“Um, no. I don't have any family or really close friends. I was going to tell my boyfriend, but he's out of town right now.” God, how was Alec going to react? Maybe he'd just not tell him. (Not like Alec told him everything. Being in the mob seemed like it was on par with werewolf in the “secrets I wouldn't tell someone on a first date, but probably before we started exchanging ‘I love you’s”)

 

“Wait is there a rule against telling people? Will those Shadowhunters come after me if I go around telling everyone I'm a werewolf?”

 

“There's no rule. Some people tell their family and friends, others don't. It's conditional. But I wouldn't recommend keeping a secret like this from your boyfriend, assuming it's a serious thing. Would be kind of hard to keep from someone you're around constantly.”

 

“Yeah.” Magnus plays with his napkin, having long since finished off his food.

 

He stares off into space, thoughts consumed by thoughts of Alec and secrets. 

 

It had never bothered Magnus that his boyfriend couldn't tell him the truth. Not really. He got annoyed sometimes, and occasionally felt like Alec just didn't trust him, or like him enough, childish as it is.

 

But he really can't imagine keeping this from the guy he loves. Maybe he'll be called crazy. Maybe he'd get dumped. Maybe Alec will be fine with it, will help him through the adjustments to his life.

 

The bell over the door rings and Magnus glances towards it out of habit. Then freezes.

 

There stands a man Magnus would know anywhere, even deaf and blind. They lock eyes and both freeze.

 

Luke doesn't notice. He rises and moves to the door. “Alec, I wasn't expecting you.”

 

Magnus manages to rip his eyes from his boyfriend's, run them up and down the body he knows so well. There's no horns, no scales or fur. But there is a quiver and bow strapped to his back. A knife holstered on his right thigh. 

 

When Alec doesn't respond, the alpha wolf looks between the two of them. “do you two...know each other?”

 

“He's...he's” Alec stutters. 

 

“That boyfriend I mentioned  before.” Magnus slides out of the booth. The door swings shut behind Alec. They're both statues until they aren't, and newly turned werewolf flings himself into Alec's arms, which come up tight around him. Magnus buries his nose in his neck, in hailing the familiar and now sharper scent of home and love. 

 

Magnus is trembling.

 

“Hey, hey. I've got you now. You're okay. I have you.”

 

÷÷÷

 

Luke makes them tea. 

 

They sit across from each other in the same booth. It's awkward.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Um, Luke called in asking for assistance tracking the rogue who turned you. It wasn't the full moon, so it was deliberate, and a violation of the Accords, making it Shadowhunter business. He said he had a new wolf, I wasn't expecting it to be you.”

 

“So that's what you are? A Shadowhunter?” Alec nods. “I thought you were out if town til tomorrow. Without cell service.” It comes out a bit more accusatory than intended, but nobody can really blame him for that.

 

“I was, in Alicante, the Shadowhunter home country. There's no tech at all there. I got back early and was restless from days of meetings, so I took this mission.” Alec looks down. “I was going to surprise you with dinner tonight.”

 

“Look Magnus-”

 

“Were you ever-” they both start and stop. 

 

“You go first.” Alec says.

 

“Were you ever going to tell me the truth? It's not like I didn't know you were keeping things from me. God Alec, I thought you were in the mob!”

 

“You  _ what?”  _ Alec looks completely shocked.

 

Luke chooses this moment to appear holding two steaming mugs. He's laughing so hard he nearly spills them. “It's a fair conclusion.” the alpha points out.

 

The Shadowhunter glares, then turns back to Magnus. “Why would you think that?”

 

Magnus gestures to his boyfriend. "Well, you and your siblings have matching tattoos, are constantly alert for threats, you go on sketchy 'business meetings' often. You never tell me about your job, I've never been to your house, you get mysterious phone calls all the time. You want me to go on?"

 

"No. I- no." Alec slumps, then sips his tea. "I can see why you drew those conclusions. But why didn't you ever ask me? If you were so curious?"

 

"Would you have told me the truth if I had?"

 

"You have no idea how many times I wanted to." He reaches across the table to squeeze Magnus' hand. "But it's frowned upon in my culture to date people of the same gender, and especially separate species. We've gotten a lot better in recent years, Izzy's boyfriend is a vampire and barely anyone cares, but a mundane? That's a big no. And if I told you the truth, I was afraid you wouldn't believe me. You'd call me crazy, break up with me. Lying to you hurt every second, but being with you...I'm happier than I've ever been

 

"I'm so sorry for the lies. And I'd understand completely if you wanted to breakup. I'll hand off finding the one who turned you to another Shadowhunter and you'll never have to see me again."

 

It's Magnus' turn to be surprised. "Alexander. Darling. That is the last thing I want." It breaks his heart to see how happy that makes Alec. "Look, a lot of things have changed very suddenly. One thing that hasn't? How much I love you.

 

It might take us a bit of time and effort to adjust to this. To me knowing the truth of you, and to me being a  _ werewolf.  _ But I have every confidence that we can do it. Together."

 

Magnus extends a hand, and after a heartbeat, Alexander takes it, smiling.

 

"Together."

**Author's Note:**

> I have many other WIPs I should be working on. Published and otherwise. Instead I write this. 
> 
> I was entered into the Shadowhunters WIP big bang, which unfortunately has been cancelled. I'm nearly done with my malec space au, and when I am is that something anyone would be interested in reading?


End file.
